Page 4 of Broken Play
Two planes later, I land in Austin.
I've never lived here, and my dad only moved here a year ago when he bought a stadium to lease out to a professional football team and for concerts and other big events. So this isn't home, but working at the tennis academy means I won't be traveling for two weeks at a time for tournaments. Maybe, just maybe, this is what I need to feel like I have a permanent home and find myself again.
THREE
GREYSON
I reach into a jar for a milk-chocolate caramel and pull out one filled with coconut. It feels symbolic—I hate coconut.
It's been months since my less-than-stellar performance in the Super Bowl. For the first time, I couldn't push a woman to the back of my mind. I threw three interceptions in the big game and ended up benched. My backup jogged onto the field, threw for two hundred yards and one touchdown, and strutted off with his chest puffed out. He proved he could handle the big moments.
At the time, I remember thinking that at the end of the season we'd both have starting jobs in the NFL, that someone would make a trade and he'd be leading a team of his own. I was half right.
Because I'm walking into my brother's office for the first time as the quarterback of the Austin fucking Armadillos. Denver made a trade, all right, but it was my ass that got shipped off, not his.
Damn, is there no loyalty in sports? I won a Super Bowl and the MVP for Denver a few seasons ago.
"Greyson. You can go in," J.D.'s executive assistant, Rita, says. She's smirking like she's wondering what joke I'll play on him today.
"Thanks." I take a deep breath, turn the knob, and prepare for a new team. "Hey, you must have wanted me pretty badly to pay that kind of money."
He walks from behind his disorganized desk. It makes me wonder if he's up to the job. Being the youngest coach in NFL history must be a cross to bear. He wraps his arms around me. "Glad you're here, brother," he says, slapping my back.
I'm not happy to be here, so I lie. "Good to be home." He gives me the side-eye, raising a brow. He knows how much I loved living and playing in Denver.
We've had a few conversations since my agent called, saying I'd been traded with one year left on my contract. My picture was splashed all over the sports and entertainment channels.
Where did things go wrong for Greyson O'Ryan?
Who's the mystery woman in the photo?
Did he spend time with her instead of preparing for the game of a lifetime?
J.D. hurls the playbook at me, and I catch it in midair. "Nice catch. Maybe we should switch your position." He laughs hard.
"Fuck you."
Wiping the amused look off his face, he sits down, placing his elbows on the desk. "Have you figured out who the girl was that caused you to fuck up so badly in the big game?"
Throwing my head back, I snap, "I wish I knew."
"Don't give me that. The whole world saw you two. Who was she?"
J.D. played at the highest level for a decade, and until he met Birdie, he was certainly acquainted with the ins and outs of being a much-sought-after professional athlete. He basically wrote the rules:
One night only.
No bringing them to your house.
No giving out personal contact information.
"I can't be any clearer. I don't know who she is. Her first name is Sutton... I think. No woman has ever... oh, forget it." I scrape my hand over my chin, still wishing I could find her. But if the media didn't out her name, I know my chances are slim to none of finding her.
"Okay." My brother shakes his head and steers the conversation back to the present. I have four siblings. J.D. is two years older than me, then there are ten years between me and Parker, then there's Noelle, and Witt is the youngest. "How long will you be staying with Birdie and me?"
"For a week, max. I'm meeting a real estate agent this afternoon. Hoping to get a piece of land with privacy outside the city. Then I promised Noelle and Parker we'd go ice skating. Parker wants to show off. I swear he picked hockey, a sport totally opposite of ours, just to say fuck off. And Noelle is bringing her boyfriend. Let's hope he comes back in one piece."
I haven't been around our younger siblings much because of football. Maybe that's the reason Parker chose a different sport—he thought he'd have more downtime. But as luck would have it, he's a highly talented hockey player.
